ADVERTORIAL

A CFOs future in the CEO seat

Chief Executive Officer of TDI Infrastructure Limited, India Arun Anand, will address the ‘CFO’s forum’ on the topic ‘From a CFO to a CEO’ at a breakfast meeting arranged by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Today it is increasingly becoming common for CFOs to ascend to the higher ranks of CEO position. According to global research by Spencer Stuart recruiter E. Peter McLean in the USA, 20 percent of the CEOs appointed in 2000 spent time in the finance ranks. It now therefore shows that more CFO’s are included in CEO searches than they were previously and more often than not they have been able to beat out their non-finance rivals to the top seat.

The reasons for this are compelling. Over the past decade, finance executives have been demanded to be involved in presenting strategic interpretation to numbers. As a result they have been given operations oversight; macro and micro economic perspective and taken a broader view of the organisation, and have worked more intimately with the CEO. CFOs penetrate all facets of a business, which is critical to understanding what levers to push as CEO.

CFO’s who transform into CEO’s, even faced with today’s tough economic environment, would arguably possess the essential skills and the right mindset to sail the organisation in the right direction by taking a futuristic view of the balance sheet. The CEO’s who evolve from the poison of CFO’s have wider perspective of the businesses, through complexities and challenges to sustain the progress of their organisations.

In this backdrop hiring finance types with a management orientation as Chief Executives will be the future trend. With governance and social responsibility now becoming a factor of production in the international market the stakeholders including regulators demand for quality office-keeping, compliance, and disclosure of corporate performances.

Finance expertise thus goes beyond numbers of the past and projects the ability to forecast the future which is a much sought after skill in corporate boardrooms. This leads to an emerging trend in organisations searching for the finance specialists with management orientation to share greater number of seats in board rooms. This undoubtedly is one reason for the emerging trend of CFO’s turned CEO’s.

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) is a forerunner internationally in developing CFO’s with attitude and aspirations to look beyond the ‘bean-counters’ to reach the top.

CIMA spends a lot of time and effort through their course work and training to shape up their professionals to grasp broader strategic management skills reaching beyond pure finance management and compliance skills. They are groomed to look beyond the financial performance of organisations and see through corporate big-picture not withstanding the focus and emphasis on financial management.

They are able to synthesise well with all key corporate functionalities and empathise with the strategic needs of the organisation. CIMAs’ are trained to go beyond the traditional accounting to sort problems relying on numbers alone rather taking organisation’s qualitative and emotional aspects well into account.

This gives CIMAs’ skill to manage both financial and qualitative balance sheets of the organisations, which invariably is good part of the role that a corporate CEO is expected to play.

CIMAs’, therefore, can successfully penetrate all facets of business with relative ease to acquire a wider and clearer operations oversight as well as a broader view of the organisation making them well-equipped to transcend from the CFO position to that of the CEO. They carry the right balance of finance and strategic management skills for ascending to corporate chiefs.

CIMA-CFOs turned CEOs have been able to switch gears with relative ease mainly because they have the right technical skills whilst being able to appreciate the commercial and emotional aspects of the business.

In addition to this they are also the ones who want to move on quickly without spending too much time in finance ranks alone. The CIMA qualification therefore has gone much further than the mere number crunching profession and transcended into roles that concentrates greater power, authority and decision making.

Sanath Trillium Residencies brand ambassador

A reception was held at Trillium Residencies on September 7 to felicitate their Brand Ambassador Sanath Jayasuriya and to welcome him to Trillium Residencies.

Trillium is a marvel in planning and eco-friendliness, with over half the entire area dedicated to wide open spaces and lush green foliage. Redefining the concept of luxury living. Trillium provides some superb recreational facilities - a fine swimming pool, a club house, well-equipped gym, a badminton court and jogging track, a rooftop garden and a beautiful park for kids. Trillium assures its residents total security and peace of mind. There is a split-level parking area and every other amenity necessary for convenient living, such as a day care centre, convenience store/mini market and laundry collection centre.

Trillium is located on Elvitigala Mawatha in close proximity to the British School and other international schools as well as medical facilities of Asiri and Apollo Hospitals.

Trillium is flagship project of Ceylinco Condominiums Ltd, subsidiary of the reputed Ceylinco Housing and Real Estate Company Ltd, which has been in the forefront of the construction industry for almost 25 years.

The project was designed by the award winning architects of Design Consortium Ltd and is being constructed by Sanken Lanka.

LG Scarlet LCD TV introduced by Abans

Abans recently launched the unique LG Scarlet, the sophisticated and classy 2008 LCD TV, which transforms sheer design and innovative technology into a revolution in home entertainment. The LG Scarlet is not merely a top of the range, feature-packed LCD, it is an elegant fashion icon to adorn your home.

The LG Scarlet adds revolutionary beauty to the LG LCD TV range. The striking scarlet colour of the elegant cabinet will uniquely decorate your home and reflect your outstanding sense of style and the changing colours of power LED will infuse a more futuristic lifestyle.

The absence of the traditional speaker grills project a sleek and impressive design and also enables you to enjoy a deeper and broader sound field.

LG Scarlet LCD TV’s are available in 32” and 42” screen size from all Abans Showrooms islandwide.

They come with the Abans guarantee of quality with quick and efficient after-sales-service. Abans also offer attractive interest-free instalment terms to make the products extremely affordable.

Training in presentation skills

Good communication skills alone do not equip an individual to make effective presentations. To project the information in a clear, crisp, coherent manner and linking that information to the power point presentation is crucial for effective presentation.

BConnected (Pvt) Ltd offers another opportunity to enhance your Presentation skills with an excellent ‘hands on’ session.

Trainees will get an opportunity to put theory into practice at a one day training programme conducted by expert trainer, Dila Hettiaratchy on Thursday, September 25 at Hotel Galadari from 8.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.

This training will also provide participants an opportunity to do evaluations, heighten their awareness on focusing on detail, which will eventually make the difference to an effective presentation.

Handing stage fright, structuring content, profiling the audience to capture their interest are some of the significant areas that will be covered.